There are only a few authors out there who can write fiction and make the experience of reading it feel dynamic and energetic, like an engrossing conversation with an interesting person; one that may include firsthand experiences, stories about people you know well, or events and places that are emotionally meaningful to you. The shape … Read more
Filled cover-to-cover with survey data, investigative vignettes, and social analysis, American Grace sets out to make sense of the vibrant and often puzzling phenomenon of religion in America. Where I hoped to gain particular insight, though, was on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, colloquially known as “Mormonism.” Once seen as a kooky … Read more
The story of The Tree of Life begins suitably with death, because death so often serves as a trigger for asking the “great questions:” what is the purpose of existence? What is the value of life? Why do bad things happen to good people? As Sean Penn’s character, Jack O’Brien, wrestles with these ever-unresolved questions, he … Read more
Winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes last month could perhaps go down in history as one of the least remarkable things about Terrence Malick’s new masterpiece, The Tree of Life. While the ongoing, often contentious debate about whether the film is spectacularly well-crafted or simply spectacularly pretentious is certainly unsettled—perhaps both are to some degree … Read more
“Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity…A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives the span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though … Read more
Listen to the Queen of the West coast Blues talk about her life of Soul Long gone are the glory days of Soul. In the late 1950’s to 1960’s, powerful black women ruled Blues and Jazz: Dinah Washinton, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, to name a few. Their voices were powerful and the music sincere. … Read more
Timur Kuran’s The Long Divergence is a history of comparative “organizational development.” While the Middle East was once “globally optimal” with its kit of waqfs and legal pluralism, Western Europe soon emerged as the unchallenged dynamo, sporting tools like joint-stock companies and consolidative inheritance schemes. For centuries after, the Middle East stagnated amidst its “structural … Read more
After fifteen years of bad reviews and negative press, Woody Allen has gone to Paris to find himself. The result is Midnight in Paris, a classic Allen comedy. Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a self-described Hollywood hack, a screenwriter who churns out mediocre scripts for monotonous studio blockbusters. He is in Paris with his finance, Inez, … Read more
The circus of nostalgia at the center of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris is populated by the post-WWI Lost Generation and its European contemporaries. Interestingly, this group seems to have interested Allen decades before making this film. Take this clip of his standup from the ‘60s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEsFbeqiD8w I don’t want to read too much into … Read more
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother Amy Chua 256 pp. Penguin Press. $29.95. An excerpt from Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother unleashed a firestorm of controversy across the country when it was published in the Wall Street Journal in January. The excerpt, headlined “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” portrayed a wide … Read more